Dead Days

Chapter 28

     I didn't know what happened. I was following death, looking at all of my best memories when I felt a sting in my neck.

     "Don't mind it," death said in a bone chilling voice. But I did mind it.

     I looked at a memory that had Lauren and I in it. It was almost like looking through a window, only I was inside the window and on the outside. We were at a picnic, one that I'd planned.

     "Lauren was beautiful." I told death, but he looked at me. He didn't have a face. If he did, then it was covered by the shadow of his hood.

     "Beautiful?" He asked, tasting the word.

     "A very good looking woman." I say, looking back into the window of a memory.

     "Let's go, Jack. You've had enough time." Death said, and I followed him.

     As I walked, it felt as if my body lost all of its weight, I began to float. I looked down at my arms and they were becoming transparent.

     Death turned around and shot out a deathly pale hand that went straight through my arm.

      "No!" Death screamed in the most deafening, bone chilling scream.

     And then my eyes snapped open. I lifted my hands to my face and they weren't transparent. I looked to my left and there was three burly men struggling with a young red headed girl.

     Then the memories hit me like a train. Cassie. The man all the way to the left started entering numbers into the key pad. On the table next to me was a scalpel.

      With speed that I didn't know I had, speed that was... unnatural, for lack of a better word, I grabbed the scalpel and launched it at the back of the mans head. It went through and he fell, his body seizing.

     I threw myself off the bed before the others knew what was happening. I sprinted towards them. As they turned around the one holding Cassie went for his radio as the other pulled his gun.

     They were good, I'll give them that, they didn't hesitate. But that was all they were. Cassie swatted the radio from the mans hand but hit were with a strong jab. As I ran past a shelving unit I swiped a bone saw off of it and sent it rocketing at the face of the man holding the gun. I heard his facial structure collapse.

    The guard holding Cassie pulled his gun but I took two giant strides and brought my hand down on his wrist. The gun fell from his hands and he threw Cassie away to try and defend himself but it was useless. He threw a straight right hand and I grabbed the wrist and hip tossed him.

     Before he knew he was on the ground I stomped his trachea. He died instantly.

     I turned around and there she was, staring at me like I was a monster. I walked up to her and hugged her.

     "I'm still me." Is all I said.

     She began to sob into my chest, trying to get words out but they were drowned out. I hugged her tighter.

     She looked up at me as the sobs slowly faded, "everything about you is the same, except your eyes." She says, looking into them.

     "What do you mean?" I ask back, a look of confusion plastered across my face.

     "They're a light grey, almost smoky." She says, guiding me to a mirror. I look into it and she's right, the grey of my iris and the black of my pupil contrast starkly.

     "Wow, makes me look even sexier." I say, looking at her smiling.

     "Yep. You're still you," She says, rolling her eyes.

     I look around the lab. "Where the hell are we, Cass?"

     "We're at the military base. Don't you remember?"

     "Not much. I remember a gate, the Russian. And... Lauren," I say, "she stabbed me."

     "No, Jack, Alyx stabbed you. She's a traitor, she's been in contact with the Russian this entire time, that's how they always knew where we were."

     The knowledge catches me off guard. Alyx seemed like such a genuine woman. I was wrong about her.

     Cassie looks at my abdomen. "What the hell?" She says.

    "What?" I ask, looking down. I have stitches but no cuts. Not even the remnants of a scar. Just thread looked in and out of skin.

     The sight of it jogs my memory. "Cassie... I was bitten."

     "I know, Jack. But you haven't turned and it's been over five hours since you've gotten here."

     "We don't know how long it takes the virus to spread." Accepting that I was infected.

     "I'm sure you'll be fine, Jack." She says.

     "How can you be so sure?"

     "You were dead for the past five hours. When I got in here you were cold and deathly pale.

     It was extremely hard for me to accept. "I was dead?" The word had a whole different meaning. A whole different taste Rolfing off my tongue.

     Cassie just looked in my eyes, she didn't have to say anything, the answer was in her eyes.

     "So, What now?" She asks, looking into me for an answer.

     "We find you're parents, and get the hell out of this place." I say, looking back into hers.

     "I don't know, Jack," she looks down at the ground, I can tell she's holding back tears.

      "What do you mean?"

     "My parents are working for them, in exchange for hospitality." She pauses, trying to piece everything together. "My Dad is the person who perfected their virus. It's what I have to you, to bring you back. It looks like what Devin injected into himself."

     I search for words, but there is none. Confusion and hatred are like a tidal wave inside my head.

     "Jared, status report." Said a static filled voice. I turned around and seen the radio that Cassie had swatted out of the guards hand.

      I walked over to the radio and looked down at it. "Jared, confirm status." It emits. I turn around and look at Cassie, she doesn't know what to do. Movement catches my eye and I look to see the man whom I threw the bone saw at twitching and groaning.

      I walk over to him, bend down, hold the button to talk and push a finger into his shattered face. He screams, but he doesn't open his mouth, he's unable too. But it was loud enough, that was all I needed.

     I let go of the button and stood, there wasn't a reply, the other side didn't even push down the button. The alarms blared and an automated voice said, "entering lockdown, please stay away from windows and doors. You have been advised."

     I told Cassie to find cover, I picked up the pistol I chopped from the guards hand and unloaded the clip. A full magazine of 12 hollow point rounds.

     I slid the clip back in and pulled the slide back, putting the sights at heads height on the door.

     A fire ignited in my mind, and a familiar blood thirsty cry was let loose. The warrior was back, and ready for bloodshed.